"So you said that the images I have in my head do belong to me. Could you please explain what you mean by that?" Alexi requested again once they settled in the living room.
"Of course," Aaron said trying to hide his nervousness. "You see..."
Alexi listened as Aaron told her all about their shared history.
"So you're saying that both of us are basically immortal, but that we can be killed it's just harder," Alexi said trying to absorb the story that Aaron had told her.
"I'm not actually sure in your case," admitted Aaron. "You should be because Adrianne was and you have her memory, which means you are her reincarnation. You also look a great deal like her. You could basically be her twin with a few subtle differences."
"So I was murdered then," Alexi said trying to come to terms with being killed by a jealous man who had wanted her for himself and at the same time being the reincarnation of Aaron's lost love, which was just unbelievable to her, but somehow she knew the alpha was telling the truth. It was as if some instinct were telling her that Aaron would never lie to her about anything major and that they had loved each other deeply before her life had been taken from her.
That man that had murdered her had had no chance as Alexi suddenly knew that she had been in love with Aaron ever since they were children, that the two of them were mates. She had always known that they would marry when they came of age. The blonde man had not been a wolf so her former incarnation of Adrianne never would have married him anyway, as for most people werewolves did not exist, even though technically she was not a werewolf, but a shapeshifter it wouldn't have mattered. Once Aaron and her parents had realized they were mates they had been pledged to each other. It wasn't like there were many options and the town they had lived in, as there had been only a few shapeshifter families in the area.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. You never had a chance to change into your wolf form I'm afraid. You were also heavily pregnant, a little bit more than halfway along. It would've been our first children."
"How old are you Aaron?" Alexi asked.
"If you're talking about my actual age I'm around 800 or so. I stopped having birthdays a long time ago. You were only 16 when we married, which was actually quite late for the time, as most girls married by the time they were 14 or 15 back then."
"In order to have as many children as possible," Alexi guessed and Aaron nodded.
"Yes, because so many babies died from so many things that humans just didn't have the technology to prevent at that time. That doesn't include werewolf pups or shapeshifter ones either of course, because we tend to be healthier for the most part and the fact that we were and are basically immortal meant that you will never die in childbirth."
"It doesn't mean we can't die at all though like I did," Alexi said.
"No, it doesn't," Aaron agreed with a sober expression. "Still, it is rather difficult to kill one of us because we heal so fast from most injuries. I'm afraid you were more vulnerable then you would have been otherwise, because you were over halfway through your pregnancy. The babies within you would've thrown you off balance and your reflexes would have been slower than normal because of that extra weight. Thaddeus had you trapped before you could do anything to defend yourself. You couldn't even scream as he put his hand over your mouth."
Suddenly, Alexi had a flash of memory come to the forefront of her mind and she saw the now named Thaddeus held her tightly with a knife at her belly just touching the dress she wore with his other hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming for help. Aaron was right she looked nearly identical to his murdered mate Adrianne. They had the same hair though Adrianne's was longer than her own, but it was certainly the same color, a rich dark brown and the natural curls were also the same. Also the face structure was nearly the same as well. All she could see of her doubles body though was her arms which were long and slender and a peek at her upper chest. The rest of her double's body was covered by Thaddeus's huge form.
"Did you remember something?" Aaron asked her noticing how Alexi's beautiful hazel eyes had rolled back in her head, so that only the whites showed.
Alexi didn't answer at first, but finally the vision seemed to be over.
"You mentioning the name of my attacker seems to have brought that memory back to me," Alexi said finally. Alexi begin to describe the vision of a big man with long blond hair, holding a knife to her belly and threatening to cut the babies out of her before he killed her. She explained to Aaron how Thaddeus had called her babies bastards and how he had muttered that she should have been his wife, as he had loved her for a long time.
"Yes, he even went to your parents to try to arrange a marriage between his family and yours, but you had already been betrothed to me and they refused to consider him as a possible match. According to what I remember your parents telling me Thaddeus left their home furious. I think they figured that he would cool down and just forget about marrying you. I didn't learn this until after you were dead."
"Which is why they never said anything to either of us," Alexi said.
"I was the one that delivered the news of your death and they were devastated as was your brother and so was I. Your twin brother Adam wanted to go and kill Thaddeus in return, but I convinced him to stay out of it."
"You told him that you would take care of it," Alexi said with certainty in her tone.
"I didn't really say that in so many words as the police might have heard about it. Not from Adam necessarily, but from anyone that might have overheard. Adam knew me well enough to know that I would take care of it. If only your parents had warned us about that Thaddeus I might've been able to do something to prevent you being murdered."
"So you exacted revenge," Alexi said.
"Yes and I still don't regret it, even though it's been many centuries. I'll admit there weren't many unmarried women in our town, ones of an appropriate age, but he still could've picked someone that wasn't already married or at least betrothed. Yes, your former incarnation Adrianne was very beautiful, just as you are, but that's still no excuse. Still, you had already been pledged to another man and that should have been the end of any interest in you, at least when it came to the idea of marriage. Thaddeus broke the rules, since you were betrothed to me that made you off limits to another man unless our betrothal was somehow broken."
"Why do you believe that this Thaddeus took the actions he did?" Alexi asked curiously. Her emotions felt smothered she supposed came closest. She didn't seem to feel them with the same intensity that she did when she had been Adrienne.
"I didn't realize it at the time, because I didn't have any experience in such things, but I think that Thaddeus became obsessed with having you for himself. I believe that he saw you as a beautiful object that he wanted to own. While women didn't have much freedom back then, they were still basically able to live like they wanted. I have no doubt if you had been forced to marry Thaddeus that he would've treated you as some kind of object, a piece of art that was to be looked at but had no other use. He likely would have ignored your feelings completely," Aaron explained.
"I'm certainly glad I didn't suffer such a fate," Alexi shuddered.
"Luckily, you were born a shapeshifter, so your parents never would have arranged a marriage with someone that wasn't at least a werewolf," Aaron said.
"No, that would have been irresponsible, because we have to change on the full moon at least and I have no doubt that this Thaddeus would have considered me cursed. From what I can remember he doesn't seem like the type that would have accepted the fact that I wasn't completely human."
"No, he wouldn't have and you likely would've been burned at the stake as a witch. Burnings were quite common back when we both were originally born," Aaron admitted.
"So where do shapeshifters come from? Are there more of us out there?" Alexi asked curiously.
"Yes, there are many more of us. Shapeshifters, not werewolves. As for where we come from it is believed that we are the children of gods originally, particularly Fenrir, who was supposedly the son of the Norse God Loki. Fenrir, is supposed to be the god of wolves and also a shapeshifter like his father. It is believed that Fenrir had sex with various women and created children that inherited certain powers. It is rumored that we were once, even more powerful then we are now, that we actually had magic, like Loki when we were first created. The blood has become so diluted over the centuries however, that the only thing left to us is our wolf shape. Basically, that's how the shapeshifter race began or at least that's the legend."
"And werewolves? Where do they come from?" Alexi questioned.
"It is said, that werewolves are the children of Apollo and that they were also at one time true shapeshifters like us, except they didn't have to transform on the full moon like we do. However, the legend goes that, Queen Hera became jealous of Apollo's children ability to transform at will. She was unable to do the same thing you see, as it just wasn't one of her talents. Because of Hera's jealousy she cursed Apollo's children to only transform on the nights of the full moon and because it was a forced transformations it would be very painful. Whether it's true or not I have no idea, but usually legends have at least a grain of truth in them, even if they tend to get changed and exaggerated over decades and centuries," Aaron explained
"Do you believe in the legend?" Alexi asked.
"Which one?" Aaron questioned.
"The first one you told me about how shapeshifters came to be," Alexi said.
"Yes, I do, because the gods were supposedly immortal just like us so long as they weren't killed or murdered. There's no way our race was created through technology, because for one thing technology was very minimal back when you and I were originally born. There was no electricity and no indoor plumbing much less other things. When we grew up you simply went outside and peed in a bush before going back inside. At night there were chamber pots, so you didn't have to go outside and possibly get injured or killed by a predator or in the winter freeze your butt off."
"That sounds rather gross and definitely unsanitary," Alexi said wrinkling her nose in disgust and shuddering at the thought of using a chamberpot, not that going outside to relieve yourself was a much better option.
"It was, but you have to remember that such things as electricity or indoor toilets hadn't been developed yet. It was one of the main reason why so many people died at a young age, especially babies and young children," Aaron said.
"It makes me rather glad that we no longer live in such primitive times," Alexi admitted.
"I can't really blame you," Aaron chuckled warmly. "We were used to it though. After all, we had no idea of the technological advances that would take place over the centuries. If we had it would've seemed like magic to our primitive minds."
"So you recognized me, as your mate as soon as you ran into me in the parking lot," Alexi said matter-of-factly.
"Yes, I recognized your scent first and then when I looked into your face I knew for certain that you were my mate comeback to me. It had been so long since you had been murdered I feared that we would never find each other again."
"So we are basically reincarnated every time we're killed," Alexi said.
"That's the way it's supposed to work, but I had feared that it wasn't true, since you took so long to be reborn. Now though, I have no doubt that we will be reborn again should we ever be murdered or have some kind of fatal accident, though hopefully, sooner next time."
Alexi nodded thoughtfully.
"So are more of your memories coming back?" Aaron asked after Alexi said nothing for quite awhile. Aaron watched his mate's face closely, but her eyes hadn't rolled back into her head like it happened the first time, so he wasn't sure if she'd gotten more of her memories back.
"Yes," Alexi said quietly seeming contemplative.
"Can I ask you what you have remembered?" Aaron asked.
"Well, I remember my murder of course, as you know. I certainly hope that Thaddeus isn't reborn," Alexi added with a shiver.
"You don't need to worry, bastards like him aren't going to be reincarnated. Besides, humans aren't reincarnated. In that way, they are definitely not like us."
"Thank God," Alexi said with real feeling. "As for what I remember... I remember you now, how we were married. I remember the big celebration afterwards held by both sets of our parents. We were very happy afterwards, weren't we?" Alexi added quietly.
"Yes, we were," Aaron agreed quietly seeming to be remembering their original wedding day. "We were both so happy to finally get married to each other. We were caught totally by surprise at Thaddeus's actions due to his intense jealousy, as he hid it for a long time."
"So neither one of us had any idea that Thaddeus had feelings for me," Alexi said.
"No, if I had I would've been much more protective, especially with you pregnant. You might not have been able to protect yourself, even if you hadn't been pregnant, as girls were not trained in self-defense, but you would certainly have had more of a chance if you hadn't been."
"I could've screamed bloody murder though and someone was bound to hear me," Alexi said, as more of her memories returned to her. "I never had the chance to do that though, as Thaddeus was smart and put his free hand over my mouth. He also threatened my babies first."
"Yes, believe me, he paid for his traitorous actions dearly. I killed him slowly over an entire night until he was begging for mercy. Finally, around dawn, I slashed his wrists and his throat so that he bled out quickly. He knew who his killer was, but he never had a chance to tell that information to anyone. I would have liked to have tortured him longer, but I needed to be seen in the village so that the primitive cops wouldn't suspect me of his disappearance. Luckily for me, Adrienne's parents told the authorities when they came around asking questions that I had been with them, as a guest so that we could grieve together."
"So they gave you an alibi," Alexi said amused rather than upset.
"Yes and I was very grateful to them for it. However, I wasn't surprised that they took up for me and provided me an alibi, because they loved you just as much as I did and were looking forward to their grandchildren's births. I mean, really, it wasn't just your life that was taken it was our babies as well. I know that Adam, as well as your father would have loved to join me in torturing Thaddeus, but they would have been the first suspects in his disappearance."
"And you wouldn't have had an alibi," Alexi said.
"That's very true," Aaron admitted. "I'll always be grateful for their support."
"I should be upset with you for torturing Thaddeus as he was a sentient being after all, but I'm really not," Alexi admitted.
"And you shouldn't be, because he more than deserved his fate. He was in his early 20s when he murdered you, so he wasn't a child to young to know better. Really, most children back then were considered adults at 14. Kids that we now consider to young for to much responsibility were much more mature back then, as they had to take on many adult tasks at a young age. It was simply a different time. Your instincts are telling you that I did the right thing, even if your human half disagrees. I had every right to end his life for what he did to not only my mate, but also with my pups who never even had a chance to be born. I know you were never trained in our ways and that the information you do have is likely at least partially incorrect or at least in bits and pieces. Besides, really, it basically happened in another life."
"Yeah, it did," Alexi said. "So the cameo... why did it shock me like that, knock me unconscious, give me that pounding headache?"
"Well, I didn't lie when I said it's been in the family for many centuries. It actually belonged to your incarnations grandmother. However, she knew you loved it and so made sure it went to you, her granddaughter. You and your grandmother were very close as a little girl. She died before we were old enough to wed. Once you were murdered I kept it hoping I'd be able to return it to you someday. Adrianne, wore it basically all the time and was always fingering it, rubbing the engraving. I figured if anything could bring your memories back it would be the cameo that had belonged to your grandmother."
"I see," Alexi said noncommittally
"I was desperate," Aaron finally admitted. "I wanted my soulmate back and you didn't seem to be remembering anything on your own. I was desperately hoping your grandmother's cameo would bring back your memories of your former incarnation's life. Of course, I didn't really expect what happened. I didn't expect you to get that pounding headache where you felt like you're head was splitting in two."
"I understand Aaron," Alexi said, even as she held the ancient cameo gently by the chain. She was afraid to touch the cameo itself, afraid that it would knock her unconscious again. She wasn't willing to risk it at least not right now. "I know very well that people often do things when they're desperate that don't turn out as well as this has. I know you have missed me for centuries, even though I never had a chance to miss you since I was dead."
"You're accepting this rather well," Aaron said in a cautious tone. "I figured you'd be mad at me for pulling such a nasty trick on you."
"How can I be?" Alexi explained shaking her head. "I know you did it out love for me and only because my memories didn't seem to be coming back on their own. I mean it's been how long since we met? About six months, right? While I felt a sense of familiarity when we spent time together it was never more than that. I felt as if I had known you forever, but dismissed it. Now, I know I shouldn't have.
"While most of my memories are still foggy and unclear that doesn't mean I don't know where my destiny lies. I understand desperation Aaron. I understand that you've been basically alone for centuries, ever since I was taken from you by the actions of one man. We should've been together for centuries and had numerous children, but because of Thaddeus's actions our future together was cut short. That won't happen this time, not if you're right about humans not being reborn."
"Even if they were, Thaddeus would've been sent straight to hell not to heaven for his actions and I doubt very much that those that end up in such a place ever get a second chance to continue their lives. Thaddeus Grindle had all the earmarks of a developing serial killer and likely would have progressed from your murder to murdering someone else if he had never been caught."
"How do you know?" Alexi asked curiously.
"While he killed you, because you married someone else, he had the attitude, the hatred, the arrogance and the jealousy to make a very good serial killer. All those negative emotions would have built up inside him over time until they eventually forced him into taking action. Most people when they kill have a healthy control switch and are horrified that they've killed someone, even if it's in self-defense or an accident. Some people however, get a big charge out of it and their control switch never activates.
"These type of people are not horrified by such actions but are elated, excited, overcome by happiness and pleasure. They want to do it again as soon as possible, to get that feeling back again, as it's like the best sex they've ever had or a drug that's addictive, but they'll never reach that pinnacle of pleasure again, no matter how many they kill. The first kill is always the best for such people and so they'll keep killing hoping to feel that pinnacle again, but it never happens."
"So they basically keep killing until they're caught or die," Alexi summarized.
"I'm afraid so," Aaron said. "While law enforcement agencies do the best they can there are at least a dozen serial killers roaming around at any given time and many are never caught as they're too smart and careful."
"It doesn't help that such agencies are often understaffed and underfunded," Alexi said in a dry tone.
"No, it doesn't," Aaron said amused at Alexi's observation. Alexi was absolutely correct in her statement as law enforcement agencies were indeed underfunded and understaffed. "In any case does that mean you'll agree to share my life? To become my mate, my lover, my best friend? To share our joys and sorrows?"
"That almost sounds like the beginning of some kind of ceremony," Alexi observed.
"So it does," Aaron said with a small smile playing on his lips. "Do you accept?"
"Of course I do. At one time I know we were...connected, soul mates. I can't see our previous connection being any different just because I'm only the reincarnation of your Adrianne. If I do have her soul our connection should return after we make love for the first time. Now that I have at least some of my memories back I know I would never be happy without you in my life. I've had boyfriends of course, but most of them were human, so I knew that there could never be anything permanent between us."
"Which isn't the least unusual, not in this day and age anyway," Aaron answered. "Now you have a choice."
"What kind of choice?" Alexi asked.
"We can either go straight upstairs to my bedroom to do the deed or we can mate for the first time out in the forest behind the house, which is traditional and really the way it should be done," Aaron explained. "It used to be that if you were going to mate with another wolf that you'd have to go into the forest and do it that way. No exceptions. Nowadays, those traditions aren't as important, though most families still do it the old-fashioned way depending on circumstances."
"We're shapeshifters, not werewolves, so why is it traditional?" Alexi asked curiously. "I'm assuming of course, that it's mostly a werewolf tradition."
"They do it as well, but so do we. For all I know werewolves and shapeshifters might even be very distantly related and yes, I know the legend, I told you, but I have no idea if that story is true or not, particularly the one about how werewolves came to be."
"I choose traditional," Alexi said, after carefully considering her options. One thing that helped her reach that decision was she suddenly had a vision of her and Aaron making love in human form on some moss under a tree. Alexi saw Aaron's knot, that was part of his manhood, start to expand just before he shoved it into her vagina. He had absolutely no time to be gentle, because if his knot grew to large he would never be able to get it into her narrow passage.
"Excellent!" Aaron's suddenly feral grin and amber eyes said it all. "Just so you know that we'll have to transform into wolves at least at first. As the submissive in the relationship you have to run away into the forest and I have to catch you. I'm looking forward to us joining just like we did the first time."
Aaron's eyes gleamed with anticipation and excitement. He was definitely ready to make Alexi his in every possible way.
Alexi was excited for her and Aaron to make love for the first time in this life and the wolf within her was panting in anticipation of what was to come. The thought of the alpha chasing her got the omega within her all excited and eager and Alexi suddenly knew that what Aaron was telling her was really the right way to do things when it came to their kind. It didn't matter that they were technically shapeshifters with the freedom to shift any time they desired, except for a few nights a month. Alexi felt that rightness to her very soul.
"I'll give you a head start," Aaron said his voice nearly a growl now. "Go now!" Aaron roared in his best Alpha voice. "Try to hide from me and I will find you. I will have you as my own! You might not realize it yet but you are mine forevermore! No one else shall have you!"
Alexi rose from her comfortable chair and headed immediately to the back door that led out to the forest. Alexi stripped out of her clothes quickly, leaving them just inside the back door and then changed into a wolf. Once she was in wolf form she began to run away from the house. She was determined to give him a good chase before he caught her and made her his, something that excited her and her happy.
Aaron watched her go and immediately started taking off his clothes quickly and efficiently. This was something that he and his wolf had been anticipating for months and that time had finally arrived.
It was about time too! Aaron finally headed for the doggy door after giving Alexi a few minutes to run deep into the forest. He was going to enjoy this chase very much, before he officially took Alexi as his mate.
He was not disappointed.
~~~Aaron and Alexi~~~